My Goals:
I want to lose weight and be more healthy and active! I want to be a better example for my patients and my children.

My Program:
As of July 9, I started a food plan for food addicts, Kay Sheppard's plan (www.kaysheppard.com). It is a weighed and measured balanced plan, 4 meals a day, sugar, flour, and wheat-free, also processed food free. I feel like a new person. It allows me to behave normally around food, I have no cravings, and it has given me freedom to live.

Between Sept and Dec 09 I lost about 45 pounds by dieting. I was in the process of putting it back on when I started this plan.

We were expecting to have a baby in October 2010, but lost the baby in March. That threw me for a tailspin. We had 2 more pregnancy losses around the time that baby would have been due, and another in April 2011. I thank God I have been able to stay on track even through the grief, which has really been overwhelming at times. We do still want to expand our family.

Personal Information:
I am 44, happily married with 2 small children :). I work as a physician, and it's been frustrating and embarrassing to try to help other people with their health and be so unhealthy myself.

I am a binge eater and gained 90 pounds the year after our second daughter was born. I've gone from people constantly telling me I'm too thin to needing to lose well over a hundred pounds :(

Even though I have known about food addiction for years, I've been skeptical. But I have become convinced, to the core of my being, that it is real. Partly because of my own experience (I meet all the criteria for a substance addiction), but also because of newly published research and the fact that 2/3 of Americans are overweight or obese. This is not all due to emotional eating. I believe our food supply is contaminated with substances to which our bodies are sensitive, that cause people to eat more than they need. I doubt most of those people are food-addicted the way I am, however.

Other Information:
I miss being more physically active. (I used to do triathlons). I've struggled with depression (especially postpartum) in the past, and undiagnosed hypothyroidism. I know I need help and am learning to ask for and accept it. Obviously I can't do this alone!

I am trying not to focus on the weight, but it is such a relief to feel it coming off. My BMI has gone down more than 15 points, and I'm more than 80% from my starting weight to a healthy weight. I get excited about every little milestone.

I am so happy for you. Your patients will be so inspired by you. I am sorry for your losses. I have never had children, or even been able to become pregnant. I know the pain must be indescribably worse to lose a pregnancy. I used to be very athletic also, biking a century every weekend for a while, now I am 100 lbs overweight. How did I let this happen, I don't know, but I know I would love to have a physician who had gone through the same thing. I know with SP I can slowly and safely take it off. Thanks for sharing your journey